We could indeed wonder: or we could look at Chase's own statement - what changed was he discovered that the qualifying period for representing England was three years - and that his preferred option was now a realistic choice. Now having the choice of seeking selection for the world cup holders or the country he thinks of as home, he's chosen to seek selection for his first choice: England

Laugh if you want. But if you think England can only be someone's second choice, they I suggest it's you who's doing down and making a joke of the national team

Behave tb

Quote ="J20"Those who go on about Fijian's for Aus etc forget that 90% of them spent most of their youth there, were schooled there and learnt all of their RL there too'" That's quite true, though aussies can muddle things up a bit. A few years ago when some realised that people were playing for them that weren't actually Australians, they added the plot lines "brought up" "trained here" etc., which is fine for them, but they also forget that there's a lot of people who have been scouted by NRL clubs and other ogranisations at an early age. These players are erroneously seen as being brought up or trained in oz. Even Benji Marshall was "offered" a scholarship to play for a QLD high school, which is why he came over here. As a schoolboy he played for Oz, because that's where he went to school, obviously. He chose to play for his own country, despite the Australians being interested. Good for him. Akuila Uate for example, would also fall into your 10%. He came to Australia in 2003, he was 15. [iBorn and raised in Fiji, Uate moved to Australia in 2003 at the urging of his father. It started when a Newcastle talent scout spotted the unknown Islander playing for Woy Woy.[/i www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/f ... 1117836373

Quote ="J20"Those who go on about Fijian's for Aus etc forget that 90% of them spent most of their youth there, were schooled there and learnt all of their RL there too'" That's quite true, though aussies can muddle things up a bit. A few years ago when some realised that people were playing for them that weren't actually Australians, they added the plot lines "brought up" "trained here" etc., which is fine for them, but they also forget that there's a lot of people who have been scouted by NRL clubs and other ogranisations at an early age. These players are erroneously seen as being brought up or trained in oz. Even Benji Marshall was "offered" a scholarship to play for a QLD high school, which is why he came over here. As a schoolboy he played for Oz, because that's where he went to school, obviously. He chose to play for his own country, despite the Australians being interested. Good for him. Akuila Uate for example, would also fall into your 10%. He came to Australia in 2003, he was 15. [iBorn and raised in Fiji, Uate moved to Australia in 2003 at the urging of his father. It started when a Newcastle talent scout spotted the unknown Islander playing for Woy Woy.[/i www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/f ... 1117836373

imageshack.us/photo/my-images/54/benji6bp.jpg benji marshall in a australia shirt and uate swapped from fiji to NSW purely for the money

imageshack.us/photo/my-images/54/benji6bp.jpg benji marshall in a australia shirt and uate swapped from fiji to NSW purely for the money

Right... and as he said he didn't know he was eligible to play for England.

If you wanted a job and the only one you could see available was at, let's say Tesco, not only would you have to walk the walk, you also have to talk the talk. You'd rabbit on at the drop of a hat about how much you love Tesco, how much it means to you and how much you want to work there. You keep saying these things to try and get yourself a job in the area you want to work, but inside you know you'd much prefer Asda, but there is nothing available to you at Asda.

After 2/3 months you still can't get work at Tesco and you realise you think more about Asda. Then someone tells you that there's a job available at Asda in your area, which you're a shoe in for, so you apply. From then on you can start talking the talk about how much you loved Asda all along.

We have all done something along these lines at some point. This is not unusual or wrong, its what comes with a job. And, if you think he can't be trusted because he said one thing one week and something else another, well I can believe the man when you consider he's willing to pull on an England shirt and get smashed, first by the Aussies, and then by the country he turned his back on. Anyone remember what happened to Willie Mason when he played for Oz against NZ?

I sense that you were smirking when you typed that, since you know it for the errant nonsense that it quite clearly is; what actually changed was that a) he didn't get selected to represent his own country and b) he needs to beef us his visa case to avoid being deported.

look at the 2007 Australia schoolboys team and you'll probably find a pic of Kieran Foran. They went to school in Oz. That's how they qualify. Some aussies were well put out he chose to play for NZ having been an oz schoolboy. Clearly his nationality means nothing to them

yeah i know all about aussie schoolboy qualification.....

That's an oxymoron if ever I saw one.
Why not just have SL all stars replacing England then, if people are that desperate? 17 Antipodeans masquerading as an England team would be a complete and utter joke.

To quote Garry Schofield: "It may be in the rules but, morally, this is bulls***"

yeah but he's full of

He's a rugby player and i'm sure he's used to being targeted. He also has a chance now to play Test rugby but not for the nation he actually wanted to represent. You can come up with all the excuses you like about how he didn't know he qualified but the fact is he wanted to play for NZ( and not to long ago) finally realised he had no chance and when it came to pass he qualified to play for England he switched his allegience. Do you really think if NZ had named him in the squad he would of turned them down to play for England instead ?

I'd like to state, that i actually think he's a cracking player but this is a complete turnaround from what he wanted a few month ago.
If we had no quality at all at half back and we were really desperate i'd still feel uneasy using Rangi.

Your Tesco spiel was quite good though !!

Going by Nick Fozzards tweets, I don't think he is entirely happy about Chase playing for England, apparently when Faasavalu played for England, Fozzard pulled out.

The baised tribalism of rugby league fans is unreal!
After the Exiles game everyone keeps saying Cas are a one man team, stop Rangi and you stop Cas and all the forums were full of ive heard from a reliable source we are signing Rangi Chase.

Now that he has snubbed everyone it's, he's a NZ second rate regect an average player made to look good because of Danny Orr's experience...........pathetic!

You all keep quoting that interview where he says his boyhood dream is to play for NZ but i bet none of you have bothered to read the rest of the interview were he talks about how much he loves it here and that realisically if he is ever going to play for NZ he would have to go back to play in the NRL.

Rangi knows the NZ selectors pick their team from the NRL and the only kiwi's in England that they will consider are those playing for Wigan and Leeds that get MoM in Grandfinals, playing for a team in a second rate competition that hasn't made the playoffs he's not going to be on their radar.We all know he's good enough!

Well whats changed in the last few months?
With 2 years left on his contract and Superleague clubs making formal approaches to buy out his contract and NRL and Union clubs also showing their interest he had the world at his feet.
Cas got twitchy and offered their best deal to keep him until he's 30 and maybe beyond.
Unless Cas became a flagship superteam in the next four years he knows signing an extention means he can kiss NZ rep football goodbye.
He could have joined a top Superleague club or a NRL club or union all of which would have given him a much better chance of playing rep football but he chose to stay, live in Cas.
At a time when the best talent from clubs like Salford and Cas get poached by clubs who say you need to leave to further your career, Rangi has shown incredable loyalty.
So what if he asked McBanana if he could be considered for England, he hasn't broken any rules.

By all means start a debate on Internatonal rugby league selection policy, but to single out Rangi as a reject with no loyalty to England sounds like sour grapes and tribalism and you lose the debate before it even began.

I apologise for the poor spelling and grammar.

P.S he spoke to McNamara about playing for England before he signed his extension and weeks before NZ announced their squad!

What sort of dystopian wet dream of satan is this?

I like Fozzy and his tweets. But he also tweeted that he disagreed with someone born in England being selected if they grew up in Australia. On this issue, he's simply wrong

1. Sam Tomkins
2. Tom Briscoe
3. Kirk Yeaman
4. Jack Reed
5. Ryan Hall
6. Gaz Widdop
7. Rangi Chase
8. James Graham
9. James Roby
10. Jamie Peacock
11. Gareth Ellis
12. Ben Westwood
13. Chris Heighington
-------------------------------
14. Gareth Carvell
15. Adrian Morley
16. Joel Tomkins/Jon Wilkin
17. Rob Burrow/Luke Robinson/Kevin Sinfield - we could put another forward on the bench and let Roby do the full 80.

Even if Rangi threw in his hat for England to help his visa app, surely that shows he wants to stay here rather than return home- which he could have done when his contract runs out.

Considering the community work he does and the fact that he has just won MOS, Rangi would not have a problem challenging any visa rejections or queries.

Top post Mrpurfect.

With Sinfield at 13, O'Loughlin at 16 and Burrows at 17, yes. That would be my starting line up at the moment though it will probably change.

Bring on the Four Nations!!

Lockers is out of the Four Nations. He needs an operation.

Cracking side that. The best side (on paper) we've had for a good while.

Have you got a link for that? Squad announced is:

Squad: Darren Lockyer, Corey Parker, Sam Thaiday, Jharal Yow Yeh (Brisbane), David Shillington (Canberra), Paul Gallen (Cronulla), Daly Cherry-Evans, Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Tony Williams (Manly), Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith (Melbourne), Akuila Uate (Newcastle), Matt Scott, Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland), Luke Lewis (Penrith), Darius Boyd (St George), Greg Inglis, David Taylor (South Sydney), Keith Galloway, Robbie Farah, Chris Lawrence (Wests)

Those unhappy with the purity of any England win may wish to note the Fijian Akuila Uate, Tony Williams who has played for Tonga and Robbie Farrah who has played for Lebanon.

I wonder if cricket, soccer and RU fans do as much hand wringing and moaning as RL fans do? Seems many people just wait for an excuse to stop supporting the game

Uate - Brought up in Aus from a kid and Aussie schoolboy international.
Williams & Farrah both Aussie born & bred.

Yes they played for other nations, but LESSER nations at the start of their career? So England are on a par with Tonga, Fiji and Lebannon... ACE.